If You See Something, Say Something by Jill Dalton

I’m finding New York City harder and harder to deal with. First, I’m accosted by the “If you see something, say something” signs painted on the steps in the subway stations. And once I’m on the train there’s the disembodied voice straight out of Orwell’s “1984” warning me, “If you see a suspicious package, we have the right to search all bags and backpacks; if you see something, say something;” and on and on it drones.

And the other evening, as I exited from the 5th Avenue/Bryant Park stop I came upon two police officers standing by a table with a large sign that read, “We have the right to search your bags.” I wanted to take a photo, but I was running short on time, and would have needed to situate myself so as to not be detected, so instead, I kept moving. And then there are the ubiquitous security cameras I see everywhere, including in Central Park.

It’s really all about fear isn’t it? Be afraid. “Be very afraid” is the message the security state wants to convey; because when people are afraid they’ll do anything to feel safe, including giving up their civil liberties. The Soviets used this fear tactic in the 50’s, and then the Bush Administration incorporated this tactic into their propaganda bag of tricks. Remember those red/orange/yellow terror alerts?

And now the kinder, gentler face of American empire, the Obama Administration, uses fear to control us with their pathetic, lame excuses for massive spying on U.S. Citizens. “Be afraid. Yes, be very afraid. After all, the terrorists are coming! But we’re here to protect you. We spy on you for your own good.”

Really? Is anyone actually buying this anymore?

Since 9/11 the security state has systematically taken our civil liberties away, and Americans have barely uttered a whimper. President George W. Bush signed the USA PATRIOT Act into law on October 26, 2001. The title of the act is a ten letter bacronym that stands for Uniting (and) Strengthening America (by) Providing

Providing Appropriate Tools Required (to) Intercept (and) Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001. The act was in response to the September 11th World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks. According to Wikipedia the act,

significantly weakened restrictions on law enforcement agencies’ gathering of intelligence within the United States; expanded the Secretary of the Treasury’s authority to regulate financial transactions, particularly those involving foreign individuals and entities; and broadened the discretion of law enforcement and immigration authorities in detaining and deporting immigrants suspected of terrorism-related acts. The act also expanded the definition of terrorism to include domestic terrorism, thus enlarging the number of activities to which the USA PATRIOT Act’s expanded law enforcement powers can be applied.

Then Obama extended three key provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act on May 26, 2011:

After Bush was caught spying, the solution found and implemented was FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act). But FISA has proved to be a rubber stamp—2,000 or more requests for domestic spying, and all but one was approved.

Once FISA was installed many of us assumed the spying had stopped. Au contraire. And now, so as not to be outdone, Obama has used the USA PATRIOT Act to illegally spy on Americans as well.

Top-secret documents obtained by the Guardian illustrate what the FISA court actually does – and does not do – when purporting to engage in “oversight” over the NSA’s domestic spying. That process lacks many of the safeguards that Obama, the House GOP, and various media defenders of the NSA are trying to lead the public to believe exist.

No individualized warrants required under 2008 FISA law.

Glenn Greenwald, “FISA court oversight: a look inside a secret and empty process. Obama and other NSA defenders insist there are robust limitations on surveillance but the documents show otherwise.”

After 9/11 Congress gave the government a blank check, and thus began the surveillance state. Now 70% of this mass spying is privatized, with little or no government oversight. They’ve built huge computers in Utah to house all the data. Several whistleblowers have come forward to report the abuse, which included a spying program called Trailblazer that used $6 billion in taxpayer money and was a total bust.

I guess it’s not enough to have TSA scanners in airports radiate you; if you refuse to be radiated, never fear, some TSA lackey will gladly grope you. I stopped flying soon after they infringed upon our 4th Amendment right of illegal search and seizure.

In New York we have the Stop and Frisk law, which is used to harass mainly black and Hispanic males anytime the police feel like it without probable cause. This has resulted in racial profiling, illegal stops, and ignoring of privacy rights. And guess what? It’s only a matter of time before this draconian practice moves out into the rest of the population. The privatized security state marches on, and the only word it knows is, “More!” You see, to the corporate security state, we’re all potential terrorists.

The FBI has received clearance from federal aviation officials to conduct drone surveillance operations in the United States on at least four occasions since 2010, according to public records and U.S. officials.

And if that isn’t disturbing enough, according to the same article, “Congress has directed the FAA to open domestic airspace to drones by 2015.”

U.S. law enforcement is greatly expanding its use of domestic drones for surveillance. Routine aerial surveillance would profoundly change the character of public life in America. Rules must be put in place to ensure that we can enjoy the benefits of this new technology without bringing us closer to a “surveillance society” in which our every move is monitored, tracked, recorded, and scrutinized by the government. Drone manufacturers are also considering offering police the option of arming these remote-controlled aircraft with (nonlethal for now) weapons like rubber bullets, Tasers, and tear gas.

Numerous states are considering (and some have passed) legislation regulating the use of drones. You can see a chart summarizing the developments around the country here. Congress has ordered the Federal Aviation Administration to change airspace rules to make it much easier for police nationwide to use domestic drones, but the law does not include badly needed privacy protections.

Turns out drone legislation has been, “proposed in 42 states, enacted in 5 states, and is still active in 29 states.”

A federal law enacted last year paved the way for drones to be used commercially and made it easier for government agencies to obtain them. The Department of Homeland Security offered grants to help local law enforcement buy them. Drone manufacturers began to market small, lightweight devices specifically for policing. Drones are already used to monitor movement on the United States’ borders and by a handful of police departments, and emergency services agencies around the country are just beginning to explore their uses.

Turns out Mayor Bloomberg is all for spying and having drones hovering above New York City. He’s quoted as saying on his radio program, “Oh, it’s Big Brother; get used to it.”

Amazing how much disdain Mayor Bloomberg, President Obama and most of our elected officials have for civil liberties–other than their own, of course. Seems they’re just not that into the Constitution. It makes sense–the corporatists and their criminal buddies, who run the “too big to jail” banks, Wall Street, and the corporations that run our government–need drones to protect their self-interests.

Bloomberg brags, “I have my own army in the NYPD, which is the seventh biggest army in the world.” Actually, they are nowhere near seventh; it’s more like ninety-seventh, but who’s counting? According to Detective Abad Nieves’ “We are in the business of scaring people–we just want to scare the right people.” The NYPD has been rife with corruption, from rape to intimidation, harassing, pepper spraying, and beating Occupy protestors, as well as gunning down black teens over marijuana. The NYPD has expanded into the largest police force in the U.S. with surveillance and military capabilities.

In an email published by WikiLeaks, an FBI official joked about how shocked Americans would be if they knew how egregiously the NYPD is stomping all over their civil liberties.

So yes, Big Brother is alive and well, and flourishing in the U.S. Our freedoms are systematically being stripped from us, our police forces militarized, and the NSA is data-mining every phone call, email and social network site, and all in the name of protecting us from terrorism. You see, the powers that be know what’s coming. As the economy gets worse for regular Americans, and climate change brings more disasters, and resources become less available the corporate security state is afraid of mass civil disobedience and unrest.

And if you have the unmitigated gall to actually report abuses of the corporate security state or the military industrial complex (Snowden, Manning, Assange, Drake, Greenwald, Hastings, etc.) you’ll be vilified, demeaned, and hunted down with the full intention of silencing and destroying you. No one is off limits. Seems real journalists (investigative reporters) are in the crosshairs as well.

The First Amendment to our Constitution protects freedom of the press. Our press is supposed to report abuses by our government, but instead these talking heads who pose as reporters on TV are merely sycophants on the corporate tit. And they not only spew the state’s propaganda, but condemn and openly chastise any reporting by real journalists who have the courage to stand up and speak truth to power. And because of this new attack on journalists real sources have dried up according to Jane Mayer of The New Yorker.

In Greenwald’s interview on Meet the Press, Dick Gregory accuses him of “aiding and abetting” and asks, why shouldn’t he (Greenwald) be charged with a crime? And then there’s the recent untimely death of Michael Hastings (who wrote the famous Rolling Stone article on General Stanley McChrystal forcing McChrystal’s resignation), was met with much ridicule by many of these actors in the corporate media, calling themselves reporters, yet serving only to protect their overblown salaries and the status quo.

Glenn Greenwald and Snowden have really blown the cover off the whole corporate security surveillance police state that’s been covertly put into place. And like many whistleblowers and journalists before them, they’re demonized by the security state and the corporate media whores posing as journalists.

And now that the cat’s out of the bag, so to speak, and the American people are outraged our senators cry fowl; “How could this happen?” It happened because they voted for it and their outcry is merely posturing because they got caught.

The NSA is not about protecting us from terrorists; it’s about protecting our corrupt security state from us. And I for one will not go quietly into that good night. So here’s to those of us who refuse to remain silent.

“Courage is contagious. If you take a courageous step as an individual, you will literally change the world because you will affect all sorts of people in your vicinity, and they will affect others, and they will affect others. Never doubt your ability to change the world.

It doesn’t matter who you are as an individual or how formidable or powerful the institutions you want to challenge are.

He (Snowden) is a person with zero power, zero prestige, zero position, zero privilege, yet he, by himself, has literally changed the world.”

Indeed, and so have you, Glenn Greenwald.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” — Margaret Mead

So, to all the whistleblowers, truth tellers, real journalists, occupiers, and individuals who stand up and speak out about the injustices and cruelties being done in our name, I thank you. I salute you. I commend you. I emulate you. You give me hope. It’s time to join with these great spirits in truth, justice, and peace.

Fear not! Like Greenwald said:

“You don’t need to be afraid. Stand up to the US government, and be defiant, and exercise your constitutional rights. Ultimately, we know we have rights we ought to exercise, and the only way they can go away is if we give in to fear. Do not be afraid.”

If you see something, say something.

Jill Dalton is a recovering army brat/writer/performer who has appeared in film and television as well as performing her solo plays in New York and around the country. Most recently she can be seen in and consulted for William Hurt on the HBO film, “Too Big To Fail.” Her articles have been published on: Dandelion Salad, RSN, OpEdNews & Progressive Activists Voice. She is currently writing a screenplay. Read Ms. Dalton’s new ebook, Is It Fascism Yet?

6 thoughts on “If You See Something, Say Something by Jill Dalton”

Simply put the Governing Powers are worried as to the ability of the Governing program of what the Government requires you to think and if you are unresponsive to this dictate or not showing the required amount of fear, to be comforted by Government military and policing, you may be belligerent and need further intimidation, sorry I mean coaxing, to know that Daddy knows whats best for you?

The terrorist aren’t coming, they are already well placed in the higher echelons of government. The danger is not from without, it is from within. Hitler and his goons also spied on their fellow Germans, even encouraging families to spy on each other. The difference was: Hitler lacked the appalling spying sophistication that exists nowadays. He keeps twirling in his grave.

Translate

The Senate voted to save net neutrality. Now we need the House of Representatives to do the same, or else the FCC will let ISPs like Comcast and Verizon ruin the internet with throttling, censorship and unnecessary fees. Click the image below to write to Congress.

The Golden Rule

“That which is hateful to you do not do to another ... the rest (of the Torah) is all commentary, now go study.” - Rabbi Hillel

Disclaimer:

The views and/or opinions posted on all the blog posts and in the comment sections are of their respective authors, not necessarily those of Dandelion Salad.
All content has been used with permission from the copyright owners, who reserve all rights, and that for uses outside of fair use (an excerpt), permission must be obtained from the respective copyright owner.
Republishing entire blog posts isn't OK without contacting Dandelion Salad first and asking permission. Please use the "Press This" button at the end of the blog post if you'd like to reblog an excerpt. Thanks.

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.